Many fast food restaurants have drive-through windows that allow a customer to be served without leaving a car. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,482 discloses a multi-building shopping establishment for purchasing goods from various vendors from a vehicle. The establishment includes a plot of land, and a central complex having a plurality of discrete buildings for both the ordering and receiving ready-to-eat food products. An order for the food products is placed at the building adjacent to the building at which the food products are received.
The establishment further includes an ordering lane connecting the building at which the order is placed with the building at which the food products are received. A stack lane is provided between the ordering lane and a throughway for accepting additional vehicles prior to the placing the order for the food products.
The central complex comprised of multiple buildings groups various fast food outlets within a single area. As a result, customers sitting at their cars are enabled to simultaneously buy ready-to-eat food products from different vendors. A customer's automobile enters the shopping establishment and searches for the vendor from which the motorist wishes to make a purchase. Upon locating that vendor identified by signs, the automobile waits at a stack lane of the vendor and then enters the ordering lane to place an order at an ordering window. Thereafter, the automobile proceeds to the pick-up window to pick up a purchase from that vendor. After picking up goods from one vendor, the automobile proceeds to another building to place an order and pick up goods from another vendor.
However, such a fast-food arrangement requires a customer to wait in line every time the customer orders and picks up goods from a particular vendor. Therefore, the throughput of such a fast-food establishment is not sufficient to avoid long lines during rush hours.
In addition, the disclosed establishment can offer only limited number of fast-food items, and therefore, is not appropriate for retail stores having a large number of sales items, such as a grocery retail store.
Thus, there exists a need for a drive-through arrangement with a throughput sufficiently high to enable customers to avoid waiting in lines even during rush hours.
Also, it would be desirable to create a drive-through arrangement that can be used in a retail system offering a large number of sales items.